How to Retrain a Viking
by Calico
Summary: Alternate Ending: Hiccup's injuries were worse than anyone imagined, and he's woken to a strange world with many questions: why is there a dragon in his house, what happened to his leg, and, most importantly, why is Astrid talking to him?
1. Chapter 1

6/27/10

**How to Retrain a Viking**

Something was poking him. He could feel hot breath and hear eager snorts, gurgles, and chortles. He felt like he needed to wake up, like there was unfinished business to deal with, but he was so tired. His head felt like it was stuffed with wool. The thing became more insistent, so he opened his eyes. His brain couldn't even process what he was looking at: a black scaled face, flat with large yellow-green eyes. The wide, thin mouth opened as if it were trying to talk to him, forked pink tongue sticking out. It was…

"A dragon!" Hiccup screamed in panic causing the face to recoil in confusion and cry out at him before leaping over the bed. He saw the large leathery wings spread out for a moment to allow it to glide, and the long tail slapped him in the face as it passed by. "Oh, gods!" he cried, "there's a dragon in my house. Dad! _Dad!_" The black dragon had leapt onto the rafter and was staring at him blinking. It chuffed questioningly.

Hiccup tossed aside his coverings and jumped out of bed only to feel a sharp burning hot pain in his left leg. He pitched forward onto his face and rolled over with a groan of agony, tears forming in his eyes. He clutched at his leg feeling hard metal instead of flesh causing him to jerk his hand back. "My leg! What…it's…my leg is gone," he gasped in horror as he reached for but didn't quite touch the metal replacement. The dragon was suddenly beside him, pressing its nose into his throat, then under his neck as if it were trying to get him to stand, all the while gurgling in its throat.

"Dad!" he yelled again. "Anyone! Help me!"

The door burst open and Stoick the Vast ran in, concern written all over his face. "Hiccup, what's wrong? Oh dear," he said sympathetically and rushed over to his son, putting his large hands under the boy's arms to help him back onto the bed. "I knew I shouldn't have left you alone this morning, but they needed me at the stables."

"Dad, Dad, that's a dragon!" Hiccup shouted, pointing at the thing on the floor, which was tilting its head. Behind him people were crowding in, murmuring. Hiccup glanced over his shoulder at them, confused.

"Of course, son. That's Toothless," Stoick answered calmly, with a smile.

"No, no, I'm pretty sure it has teeth," Hiccup said with wide eyes pointing at the dragon sitting in the middle of the room peering at him intently.

"Hiccup, are you ok?"

"Ok? How could I be ok? I wake up with a dragon in my face - which I am _really _not comfortable with - but also, my leg!" He pointed down. "What happened to my leg?"

Hiccup bowed his head sadly. "I'm sorry, son, you injured it badly in the battle with the great dragon. There was nothing we could do."

Hiccup's mouth fell open. "The…what with the…what?"

Before Stoick could answer there was a commotion at the door. "Let me through!" a young female voice called out. Hiccup jumped at it and turned just as Astrid Hofferson came barreling through the crowd. "I just heard," she cried breathlessly. "Oh, Hiccup! I'm so glad to see you up." She ran to the bed and sat down next to him, taking one of his hands on her own.

"A-As-Astrid?" he sputtered, his brain suddenly losing all train of thought as he looked down at their entwined hands. "You-you're…house…my…in…ah…why?"

"Hiccup?" she asked, and then looked at Stoick in silent question.

"Ah, can you all give me some privacy with my son," he called to the well-wishers that were peering inside. With a flick of his head, he motioned for Astrid to go as well. With a disappointed frown, she got up, reluctantly releasing Hiccup's hand before moving to the door. "I'm sorry, lassie, I know you're excited to see him, but he doesn't seem to remember a lot of what's happened," Stoick whispered to her. "I'm going to try to find out what's wrong. Until then I think we need to keep him as quiet as possible."

"I understand," she replied sadly, then to Hiccup, "I'll be back later, I promise."

His face was twisted in a confused half smile as he gave a small wave.

"You too," Stoick said to the dragon, who grunted back, affronted. "It's not a request," Stoick said firmly gesturing out the door. "Don't make me tell you again." With an indignant chirp, the beast jumped back up to the rafter and settled down, unwavering. "Mark my word, devil," Stoick said closing the door. "We will have order in this house." He moved over and sat down next to Hiccup, whose eyes hadn't left creature.

"Dad?" he asked in a small voice. "Why is there a dragon in our house?"

"Hiccup, what's the last thing you remember?"

The boy shrugged. "You were yelling at me."

"Try to be more specific, son."

"Oh, I don't know," Hiccup said, his voice suddenly weary. "The Nightmare had chased me, and it burnt down the brazier. Hiccup failure number five hundred and twenty-two."

"Good, good," Stoick said. "Do you remember how you said you shot down a Night Fury?"

"Um, yeah, I guess. It was dumb."

"No, no Hiccup. That's him. You named him Toothless," Stoick said pointing to the rafters. "You don't remember finding him? Or his tail?"

"I found his tail?"

"No, son," Stoick said patiently. "His tail was injured." As if he knew they were talking about him, Toothless slid down onto the floor and curled up in front of them, sweeping his tail grandly onto Hiccup's lap. "See? There's only one fin, there should be two."

"Uh huh."

"Hiccup," Stoick said, beginning to lose his patience. "You don't remember fixing the replacement and riding him?"

"Riding? Like a horse?"

"No, like a dragon. In the air."

"Dad! That's crazy."

Stoick groaned and rubbed his face.

"Did that dragon eat my leg?"

"Er, well there's some speculation on that," Stoick replied delicately as the dragon's eyes narrowed at him. "Mostly we've just decided to let the matter drop."

"Dad! A dragon eats my leg and you don't care!"

"He saved your _life_. But don't worry about that yet." Stoick was becoming visibly concerned with how bad the conversation was going and closed his eyes.

"What about Astrid?" Hiccup asked suddenly.

"Oh. Uh, well I'm not too sure about that. The lass has kept mum, but, uh, she's been by most every day since we've been back. Good job, son," he replied with a proud smile and slapped Hiccup on the back.

"I am so confused."

"We'll sort this out, I promise," Stoick said with a sigh.

* * *

A/N This was just a little plot bunny I was playing with. I'm not sure if it's the general opinion or not, but it seems pretty clear to me that Hiccup's prolonged unconsciousness was do to being hit on the head by the Green Death's tail. So that bought me a one-way ticket to Amnesia-ville. I'm not sure where exactly to go from here, but I'll definitely keep thinking about it. And if you like it and have any ideas, feel free to share.


	2. Chapter 2

6/28/10

A/N Getting into the groove of the story a bit more. The reviews are very helpful, thank you very much!

* * *

Stoick said he had to leave, that there were things that needed looking into. Hiccup suspected he simply wanted to get out of the house, away from him; his dad could barely tolerate him when things were normal.

"You're not going to leave me alone with _him _are you?" he asked his dad anxiously gesturing to the dragon curled up in the corner, where it was almost constantly sighing and groaning miserably, eyes never leaving Hiccup.

Stoick sighed. "Hiccup, do you trust me?"

The boy thought for a moment then replied, "Yeah, of course I do."

"Then can you trust that _I_ know that dragon doesn't wish you any harm, and in fact, would do anything to keep you safe?"

Hiccup swallowed nervously. "Ok."

"Good. And maybe try to talk to him."

"Why?"

"Because I think he misses you. And it might help you to remember something." He placed his hand on the door to leave.

"Dad?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think I'm ever going to remember again?"

"I don't know, Hiccup," Stoick replied softly. "But I'll do whatever I can to see that you do. I swear that to you." Then the chief slipped outside and closed the door quietly behind him.

Hiccup was left sitting on the bed, staring down at his feet. Or rather foot and the glaring lack of a second. His hand gingerly touched the wooden socket that fit around the stump. Slowly he traced down to the metal support. It was unlike anything he'd ever seen, complete with intricate spring tension to give a slight bounce and a curved base. It looked like something he would make.

"Finally killed a dragon. Got a battle scar to show for it. And I don't remember a blasted thing," he murmured to himself. In the corner the dragon's head popped up, ears twitching. "Wasn't talking to you," he said unkindly. The dragon's mouth seemed to sag and he dropped his head back onto his paws, with almost comical sadness. "I'm sorry," Hiccup said with a strange sensation of guilt. "That was…not like me. I'm just really…talking to a dragon!" He slapped his hand to his forehead.

Concerned, Toothless stood up and padded over, poking at the boy with a whine.

"Stop doing that!" Hiccup cried, but the dragon only poked harder. "What do you want from me?"

Toothless sniffed at Hiccup's hand, and then lowered his head, presenting the wide flat top. Hesitantly, Hiccup laid his hand against it. It was surprisingly warm. The dragon began to purr and gently pressed up against the hand, eyes half-closed.

Slowly, Hiccup dragged the palm down between the eyes and the back up. This seemed to please the dragon, as it chuffed and moved closer, twisting slightly to the right making Hiccup's hand slide over his ear to the neck. Getting the idea, Hiccup allowed his fingers to dig lightly against the dragon's hard scales. It was a strange, but not unpleasant, feeling. He saw that the large tail was swishing slowly while the rest of his body quivered excitedly.

"You really like this, huh? Have an itch you can't scratch?"

Without even thinking about it, Hiccup brought his left hand up to work under the beast's jaw. Almost instantly the dragon flopped over with a thud.

"Well that was unexpected," Hiccup said dryly. He gently tapped the inert body with the toe of his boot, which only elicited a contented groan. "Just think if we'd known about that before."

* * *

"Can't remember anything?"

"Nothing since the last raid. I don't understand, how could this happen?"

The old blacksmith absently twisted the hammer that was currently serving as his left hand. "Well he had a dragon's egg sized bump on the back of his head. That's bound to shift things around a bit." He knocked on his skull with his good hand. "Have had a few myself."

"But you never lost any time."

Gobber the Belch shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe I have and just didn't know it."

"What should I do?"

"Get him back out there. Get him on that dragon."

"He can't fly like this," Stoick insisted.

"Eh, fly, no, probably not a good idea. But, just let him sit on the beast. Here, I've been saving these for when Hiccup woke up." He went into the back of the shop and returned with arms full of leather gear and a bright red replacement tailfin. "These are from his own plans. Maybe seeing them will remind him of something."

"Thank you," Stoick said to his friend.

* * *

Toothless, finally roused from his stupor, stood quietly regarding Hiccup, who in turn was allowing his natural curiosity overtake the fearful panic he'd been nursing since he work up. Standing up, he steadied himself on the bed frame, tensing as he waited for the pain in his leg as he bore down on it. It wasn't as great as last time, and he let out a relieved breath, though balance was proving to be something of a challenge and he'd occasionally totter unsurely. When this happened Toothless would lean forward protectively.

"So, you're a Night Fury?" Hiccup asked when he felt steady. "Not really as impressive as I'd imagined."

The dragon growled deep in his throat, showing his teeth.

"Ok, ok, very impressive. Sorry, Mr. Sensitive." He smiled at this own words. It felt…natural. Maybe his dad had been right. Hesitantly he reached out and touched the side of the dragon's face, almost expecting the beast to turn violent and bite the hand off, but he just sat patiently and crooned softly when Hiccup touched him. Hiccup began exploring, touching the hard ridges on his back, and then a leg. Obligingly, Toothless spread out a massive wing, and Hiccup felt the strong leathery membrane and the strong muscles beneath. Finally he examined the tail that Toothless presented to him so he wouldn't have to kneel on the ground, fingers gently tracing the scar tissue where the left half of the bilateral fin used to be.

"I did this, didn't I?" he asked quietly. "This was my fault."

Toothless whined and sniffed at his hair, seeming to try to comfort him. The he lowered his head and sniffed at Hiccup's leg. "Think that makes us even?" Shrugging, he said, "Maybe it does." He pursed his lips in thought. "Dad says we used to fly. Wonder what that was like."

The dragon's ears perked up and he began to dance around in a circle excitedly.

Hiccup couldn't help but laugh. "That good, huh?"

Toothless began darting around the house, sniffing and poking at things. Items were tossed aside and broken. "Hey, calm down, ok?" Hiccup tried to tell him, but the dragon wasn't listening. Finally he seemed to have found what he was looking for and came back to Hiccup with something in his mouth. Hiccup stared for a few seconds before reaching out to take it. "My notebook!" Toothless pressed his nose at it, pushing both it and Hiccup to the bed, where he sat down heavily.

Hiccup opened the book, flipping past sketches and doodles he'd made over the years. He paused at the scratched out map of Raven's Point, regarding it with a frown, before turning the page with a gasp. Sitting next to him, Toothless seemed to be staring at the drawing with equal intensity. Hiccup's fingers gently traced over the crude but effective sketch: the head, the wings, the tail with the left tailfin that had been smudged out then obviously redrawn with a more firm, distinct hand.

He looked up at Toothless. "I drew this." He closed his eyes, trying to will the memory of drawing it to the front of his mind, imagining his hand making the marks. He groaned in frustration. "Why? Why can't I remember?" Toothless offered no answer. Flipping the page he saw more drawings, schematics for the artificial tailfin and a riding assembly. He saw his own handwritten notes about needing to make the fin articulating, and designs for the complicated pull-line system needed to do it, fairly impressed with his other self's ingenuity. Even muttering without thinking, "I would have never thought of that."

After several pages of plans, he came to more sketches of the dragon in various states: curled up napping, wings out and rearing up on his back legs, hanging upside down. The last drawing in the book was another two-page spread and was a side view, illustrating the dragon in flight, with a passenger on his back. Not much detail was given to the passenger, and Hiccup wasn't surprised; he would never devote much effort to depicting himself, but the dragon was rendered with such loving detail his heart began to beat faster in response, as if he _were_ experiencing the flight with him. Below the sketch were three words, hastily scribbled: _Toothless flies again!_


	3. Chapter 3

6/29/10

**A/N So many wonderful comments! I'm so happy you all are enjoying this, and I hope I can meet your expectations. I can only promise it's going to be a bumpy ride for poor Hiccup.**

* * *

Hiccup had closed the book and was pressing it to his forehead, as if to pull the memories out of it forcibly. The tome seemed to him like a message from a ghost version of himself. Who was that Hiccup, he thought, who flew on a dragon? _All I can manage is to get chased by them_.

It was a strange feeling – and he wasn't sure that he liked it at all – that there was another version of him out there having adventures. As if at this very moment, his other self was off visiting new worlds, being a hero, getting the girl…yet here he was stuck, gimp and confused.

"It's not fair," he declared suddenly and flung the book across the room. Toothless whined and nuzzled him. "It's ok," he said quietly, automatically patting the dragon's head. "I'm just not myself yet. And apparently," he said looking down as his stomach grumbled loudly and painfully, "very hungry."

It felt like he hadn't eaten in a week. As a pair of bachelors, Stoick and Hiccup rarely prepared food in their home, preferring to dine at the Great Hall, but Hiccup didn't feel comfortable leaving the house just yet. He searched the sparse cooking area hoping to scrounge enough staples to make something edible. After locating some old vegetables, he decided on a weak stew.

Toothless stood by alertly observing as Hiccup carefully maneuvered around. He filled the large cooking pot with water and hung it over the hearth, stoking the fire beneath it. Then he chopped up a few meager carrots and onions, tossing them in the warming water. But when he reached for the small sack of potatoes, his prosthetic foot caught on the leg of the table, and sent him stumbling forward with a painful groan, taking the name of many gods in vain. The potatoes spilled out and began rolling along the floor in random directions.

Toothless' interest was immediately piqued by the errant tubers. His large eyes became fully dilated and he crouched down until his chest and nose brushed the floor, wiggling with excitement. At first he couldn't decide which target to go for, but he finally swiped out a massive paw and sent one flying across the room, keening in delight.

"What are you doing?" Hiccup cried in exasperation, trying to gather as many in his arms as he could while crawling on the floor with great difficulty. "Hey, that's not a toy! Bad dragon!"

Seeing the potato ricochet off the far wall delighted the dragon and he chased after it, giving it another slap and chirping excitedly. Finally, when he felt his prize had been weakened sufficiently, he snatched it up in his mouth with a chomp.

"Oh, no. You are _not_ going to like that!" Hiccup warned him.

Toothless stood motionless for a moment, and then his entire face melted, replacing the previous look of excitement with horror. His lower jaw opened and his tongue sprang out, dropping a pile of wet, crushed potato at his feet.

"Oh come _on_!"

"Hiccup? Are you ok?"

Still on his knees with an armload of potatoes, Hiccup saw a pair of fur-lined boots enter his field of vision. His eyes followed the boots up to the shapeliest legs he'd ever seen, which ended in a studded leather skirt decorated in skulls. Craning his neck all the way up, he gulped as she looked down at him, concern in her clear blue eyes. "I knocked, but when you didn't answer I got worried and let myself in."

"H-hi."

She smiled warmly at him. "Hi. Here, let me help you." She reached down and grabbed an arm, pulling him up. "What happened here?" she asked looking at the mess on the floor. As they watched, Toothless spat one more piece out, and then smacked his lips together.

"He decided he's not a vegetarian." Hiccup carefully placed the potatoes on the table and grabbed a cloth to clean up the mess.

Astrid grinned and took the cloth from his hand. "I'll do that." She turned and crouched down to wipe up the floor. Hiccup forced himself to turn away from her protruding backside. Picking up a knife, he slowly and deliberately began cutting a potato.

Finished cleaning, she came to stand next to him. "So, are you getting your memories back?"

"Ah, nope. Still the same old Hiccup."

"You seem to be getting along with Toothless?"

Hiccup shrugged. "We talked."

She chuckled lightly. "That's good." Looking around she found another knife and joined him at the table. Hiccup had to concentrate very hard on keeping his fingers out from under his blade. "So," she said as her knife made a loud thunk.

"So?"

"I just…well this isn't exactly how I pictured our first conversation after you woke up." There was sadness in her voice.

"You…pictured us…talking?"

"Of course. I've been looking forward to it. There's so much I wanted to tell you." She smiled at him for just a second, and then said, "Everyone wants to talk to you."

"Why?"

"You're a hero. You saved pretty much the entire village from that dragon."

"I doubt that."

"It's true. You were amazing. Well, you and Toothless." The cutting done, she gathered up all the pieces to place in the boiling water, and then searched around for some dried herbs. "This place is a mess," she commented offhandedly with an irritated huff. Having seasoned the concoction, she stirred it and then adjusted the fire so the stew would simmer at a slow boil. "This is going to take a while to cook. Want to come for a walk with me? There's something I want to show you."

"Uh, I…I don't know."

"Please? I think it will be good for you to get out, get some fresh air, maybe see some familiar things."

Hiccup looked over at Toothless, who seemed to be nodding in encouragement. "Well, for a little while, I guess."

"Great!" She grabbed his hand and started heading for the door, but then stopped. "Um, there is one small thing that's changed. I don't want you to freak out."

"Astrid, I'm kind of all freaked-out for the day."

"All right, just remember everything is all right."

She opened the door and Hiccup had to blink a few times to get used to the daylight, but he was pretty sure he saw lots and lots of…

"Dragons?" he wheezed. "Everywhere?"

Toothless had crowded behind them to look out and grumbled at the new residents.

"Yeah. Come on. I'll explain on the way."

Before they could go very far, a large Viking lumbered up to them. "Hiccup!"

"Dad!"

"Where're you off to?"

"I was just going to show him around a bit, if that's ok?" Astrid told him.

"That's fine, good idea. Here," he said to Hiccup, motioning with the bundle he held in his hands. "Gobber sent these over for you to look at. Maybe you can try putting them on Toothless later?"

Hiccup examined the bundle with interest. "The tailfin and saddle?"

"Right! You remember, son?" Stoick's face had lit up with hope.

"No, no, I just saw the plans in my notebook." Hiccup hated to see the frown on his father's face. "But I'm sure it'll come back soon," he added faintly.

"Of course it will, not a doubt in my mind. Now don't be gone long, and try to stay out of trouble." Hiccup stared for a minute as he realized his father was saying those words with a smile instead of his normal scowl. It took Astrid tugging on his hand to respond.

"Yeah. Sure. See you later," he said with a wave and turned to follow the insistent young woman, Toothless padding along after them.

Villagers started waking up to him, slapping him on the shoulder, telling him how proud they were of him. Dragons of all shapes and sizes zipped by in the air, some with riders who called out to him cheerfully. Not a single person told him to get out of the way or go back inside. There were no snorts of derision, scowls, or insults.

"This is really…weird."

"It's all because of you." She beamed at him.

"Stop saying that!" he said with a flash of irritation, pulling his hand out of hers. It was too much. He felt crushed by the weight of so much adulation. All his life he had dreamt of just being an equal in his tribe, he didn't think he was capable of being their hero. She stopped and looked at him with a frown, and Hiccup realized that he'd hurt her. "I-I'm sorry," he said softly.

"It's ok," she whispered. "I know this must be hard for you."

"It's nothing. I'll be fine." They stood silently for a few more moments before he finally said, "So what did you want to show me?"

"This way, come on." She started walking but did not take his hand again. 


	4. Chapter 4

7/6/10

**A/N Had kind of a mental block with this one. Extra special thanks to Toothless-the-nightfury for betaing and offering some perspective! And thanks to everyone who's reviewed, y'all are great :D Though just a side note to the extra-exuberant Anon poster: two dozen reviews asking me to update is not going to make it go faster, it's just going to make me spend an extra ten minutes deleting all the reviews (apologies to anyone whose legitimate review may have gotten removed in the great purge). **

**Happy reading!**

* * *

They walked over the wooden bridge to the training arena; Hiccup had been there a handful of times in his life to witness some event or another, and he knew that's where the newest batch of dragon fighters was trained. Not that his dad would ever let him participate, no matter how much he begged. As they got closer, Toothless began growling low in his chest, ears back and eyes narrowing to near slits.

"Stop that," Astrid chided, though her tone was soft, compassionate. She reached up and rubbed his ear, which seemed to soothe the dragon. "It's ok, they're no threat."

"What's wrong with him?"

She stopped and her mouth twisted a little in thought. It was a rather charming look he'd never seen before from her normally warrior-tough features. "Stuff happened the last time he was here - It wasn't good." She looked back at Toothless and gave his ear another pat. "But things are different now. You'll see."

She continued walking slowly and they followed suit. "This is where we trained to kill dragons."

"Yeah, I know what it's for. My memory isn't that gone."

"No, Hiccup, I meant 'we', as in you and I. And the rest of the kids, of course."

"No. My dad would never agree to that."

She shrugged. "He did, though most of us certainly wondered why. You were horrible at first: slow, scatter-brained, never were where you should be…"

"Thanks for summing that up." Hiccup really didn't need a rundown of his failures, especially ones he didn't even get to experience firsthand.

"…_but_," she said pointedly with a look telling him to be quiet, "you started performing better. You could drop a Deadly Nadder in two seconds and herd an angry Zippleback back into its pen without a single scorch mark. It was…annoying." She let a small smile play on her lips. "At least until you told me the truth. But in the meantime, you were chosen as the top of the class and were supposed to kill a Monstrous Nightmare for your final exam."

Hiccup gulped at the mere thought. _He_ was better than Astrid? How was that possible?

"What happened?" he couldn't help asking.

She looked down shyly. "You did the bravest thing I've ever seen anyone do. You stood up in front of your father, in front of everybody, and you told them you weren't going to do it, that they didn't have to be killed." She frowned. "Things didn't go well, though. Your dad was really angry, which got the Nightmare angry. It would have killed you if Toothless hadn't shown up to fight it off."

Hiccup looked at the dragon…no _his_ dragon. He'd have to start accepting that responsibility soon enough. He remembered what his dad had said: Toothless would do anything to keep him safe. He patted the soft nose in a silent thank you.

"Come on," she told him. "We'll get to the rest later. I want you to see this."

Half of the training arena floor was covered in dragons of all shapes and sizes and breeds. Most of them paced around quietly, or slept while some were chattering loudly. None seemed the least violent. Toothless sniffed at them in an almost dismissive manner. Hiccup got the impression he wasn't fond of them.

"With the nest gone, I guess these guys didn't have a place to go. So they've slowly just been migrating to the island. The new ones get put here where we can teach them how to leave peacefully around us and each other. If they don't seem like they'll adapt well, we ask them to leave and they just… go."

"Hey, Hiccup! Look, guys, it's Hiccup!"

His head shot up at hearing the familiar voice shout his name, and a tingle of fear shot down his spine, bracing for the inevitable jibe or slur on his manhood, but the dark-hair boy just jogged up to him and gave him a friendly slap on the back. Behind him he could see Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Fishlegs moving towards him. "Thought you were going to sleep through all the hard work, huh?" Snotlout said with a jovial grin. "You're the main man now; things'll be a lot smoother."

"Um, yeah I don't know how smooth I'll be making anything," Hiccup said as the other kids waved and grinned at him.

Astrid cleared her throat. "Hiccup can't remember what's happened. I thought showing him what we're doing might help."

"Can't remember?" Tuffnut asked. "What you mean like he has amnesty?"

"Amnesia, you idiot," his sister said and elbowed him in the chest. Then Ruff stepped forward, leaning close to Hiccup's face. "Your name is Hic-CUP! You are a Vi-KING! You live on – owowowow!"

"He knows that _and _he's not deaf," Astrid said through gritted teeth as she tossed the other girl out of the way by her braid. "I mean he can't remember anything since we started training."

"Wow that sucks, dude," Snotlout said sincerely. "You mean you can't remember how I single-handedly killed that giant dragon?"

"He can't, but I can," Astrid answered with narrowed eyes.

"Kidding, kidding!"

"What can we do to help?" Fishlegs asked quietly.

"I want to introduce him to your dragons, since they were the first, besides Toothless."

The teens seemed excited about showing off their companions and rounded them up from where they had been mingling among the new wild dragons. Astrid whistled sharply and a Deadly Nadder with bright blue body and yellow spikes eagerly ran forward to greet her, nuzzling her hair. "Hey there, Baby Girl," Astrid practically cooed at the dragon, patting her neck. "Did you miss me?" She looked back at Hiccup, blushing, "She's really spoiled - it really fits her. If you have a problem with that…?"

"Hey I didn't say anything."

Fishlegs walked over with a chubby brown dragon hovering alongside him, and Astrid continued the introductions. "This is Butterball. He's the one we practiced on the most." Fishlegs was scratching the Gronckle's neck enthusiastically, until it keeled over at his feet like Toothless had earlier. "Yeah," Astrid said slowly, "they do that sometimes."

Hiccup just nodded knowingly.

On the other side of the arena Ruff and Tuff had gotten into an argument over who was going to actually bring their dragon over while the dragon's two heads hovered apprehensively over them. Once Ruff had Tuff in a painful looking arm lock, each head grabbed the back of a twin's shirt and separated them as far as its necks could strain. Even hanging several feet in the air, the siblings continued to sling insults at each other. Astrid sighed. "The Zippleback is theirs. They can't discuss naming it without bringing out weapons, so I think it's stuck with Hey You for the time being."

"Hey, hey!" Snotlout called out from atop a Monstrous Nightmare as it walked slowly up to Hiccup. He jumped down dramatically and said, "And this is Flameskin. Because her skin flames up! Get it?"

Hiccup was nodding politely, that yes; he did indeed get it, when an angry cry pierced the air from behind. Looking back, he could see Toothless, ears completely back and teeth fully bore, snarling at the Nightmare. In response Flameskin became immediately consumed in a ball of flame.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Snotlout cried. "What's up with this?" Grabbing nearby bucket of water, he dowsed the dragon, leaving only tendrils of hissing steam. "Come on, girl, let's get out of here," Snotlout said, leading the Nightmare away.

Toothless continued to growl quietly at the retreating Nightmare. Astrid sighed. "The rules are no fighting in the arena. He has to go."

Hiccup gaped at her. "You mean off the island?"

"No, no. Just out of here. I can't have him getting the rest of them worked up."

"Fine, I'll take him home."

"Oh, well actually, I was hoping you'd ride with me."

"_What_?"

She pointed her thumb over her shoulder. "On my dragon." With a small smile, she said, "I sort of owe you one." Hiccup hesitated. "Look, you're going to need to learn how to fly Toothless soon enough, you may as well start easy."

"Why do I need to do it at all? Why don't you fly him?"

"Because he's _your_ dragon, and he would never allow anyone else to do it. You're the only one he trusts; you're the only one that knows how to run that rig of yours."

"Except I don't," he mumbled. She sighed and put a hand on her hip. "Ok, ok." He turned to the Night Fury. "Go home, Toothless. I'll be there soon." Toothless snorted and flapped his wings, before turning and stomping out of the arena. Hiccup found himself sorry to see the dragon go. Looking back he saw that Astrid was already on the Nadder. "Great. This can't possibly go wrong," he muttered to himself.


	5. Chapter 5

7/7/10

**A/N: Love the awesome reviews, thank you so much! Backroads' review was quite timely; yes she has been _very _patient with him, hasn't she *evil grin* And to answer Avatarmirai's question, unless I get a major inspiration burst soon, there's going to be two more chapters, so nothing terribly epic plotwise, sorry :( But in the meantime I get to play with poor Hiccup just a little while longer.  
**

**Enjoy!  
**

* * *

"Hold on."

"To what?"

"Me."

"Er…"

With a sigh of exasperation Astrid reached back and seized his arms, pulling them around her waist. Hiccup gulped audibly. He could smell something flowery and sweet coming off her hair. "Just hang on. She's not nearly as wild as Toothless, but it's easy to slip off." With a click of her tongue, the blue dragon took several steps forward and with a whoosh of its wings, lifted gently off the ground.

Hiccup looked down anxiously as the ground fell away. The training ring grew smaller and smaller behind them, the houses became indistinguishable, and all of Berk swiftly became a miniature of itself. They flew west, towards the wild part of the island. The bird-like dragon bounced along just above the treetops with each energetic wing flap. Hiccup's empty stomach flipped unpleasantly and he pressed his face against Astrid's back. With his heart pounding in his ears he was only partially aware of how painfully close he was to the object of his fantasies since, well since he had started having fantasies, but enough of him was aware that he became increasingly uncomfortable. As far as bad ideas went, this one was turning out to be nearly as bad as the time he'd almost chased a Gronckle off a cliff.

He peeked over her shoulder just long enough to see the dragon barely miss a rocky outcropping as it banked past a mountain face. "Astrid! Whoa, whoa! Are you sure this thing can fly?"

"Of course!" she yelled over her shoulder. "Just take it easy and enjoy the ride."

"I am most definitely not enjoying this!"

"Give it a chance; you loved flying before, even when Toothless almost killed us both."

"I don't care what happened before; I really don't like this, and want down now!"

"Fine," she grumbled. They'd made it to the southwest side of the island, and she landed on a small beach cove. She helped him down, and tried to steady him when his feet were about to give way, but he pushed aside her hand and turned away, dropping on the ground and pulling his knees up. From the corner of his eye, he saw her hesitantly sit down beside him with a sigh.

"What happened after?" he asked.

"After what?" she asked peevishly.

"My final exam?"

"Oh," she said in a small voice and stared at the lapping waves for a moment. He could feel her reluctance to start. Finally she said in weak voice, "Toothless wouldn't leave your side. You tried, but he wouldn't."

Hiccup frowned. "My father was there?"

She nodded. "Everyone was."

Hiccup closed his eyes and tried to imagine a Night Fury landing in the middle of the village. "How bad was it?"

"Your father charged him, they fought, and I thought – no I _knew_ – Toothless was going to kill him. But you called him off. You made him stop." She looked at him and he saw her eyes glisten with tears that hadn't fallen yet. "They took him," she whispered. Then she laughed harshly and made an attempt to swipe her eye with the back of her hand casually.

"My dad? He must have been pretty mad, right?"

"I don't know exactly what happened, Hiccup," she said quietly.

"Tell me what you do know."

"By the time I heard the news they were already preparing the ships. You had told him about the nest…"

"Nest? _I_ told him about the dragon's nest?"

"Yes. W-you had found it during a flight. And your dad said Toothless would lead them there again. So they loaded him onto the ship, in chains." She closed her eyes and rocked back and forth. "We were told that you were disowned. You were to be exiled from the village."

Hiccup laughed without humor. Everything he'd done, every mistake, every accident - he'd never imagined his father ever disowning him. "Well that really is a failure of epic proportions, isn't it? And here I thought I'd never amount to anything."

Having gotten past the worst of it, though, Astrid continued on more excitedly. "But you didn't let that stop you. You were going to fly out there to help Toothless, and try to prevent them from finding that thing, that dragon. And we went with you. We followed you," she said with a smile. "You were a leader that day." Hiccup snorted and she jabbed him roughly with her elbow. "You _were_. When we got there, the dragon was out, people were scattered and frightened, ships were on fire. You knew what we needed to do. And when you finally got Toothless you…well, you…" She stopped and stared down at her hands. "Hiccup, when I tell you that you were a hero, I'm not being flattering. I want to make very clear to you that you were brave and strong, and I've never been more proud to know anyone."

Then she leaned over and kissed him. Hiccup's eyes went wide and he felt frozen as her mouth covered his. He couldn't even track the number of emotions firing in his brain and the shear overload of it caused him to push away from her with a startled cry, backpedaling with his hands and feet like a strange crab, his face a look of shock and horror.

This was the last straw. Astrid stood up with the stomp of her feet. "Argh! I have been patient, I have been supportive, and I just don't know what else to do with you. I really wish you'd get your blasted memories back already."

"Why?" he asked sharply in response to her sudden anger while regaining his feet.

"Why wouldn't you want to, Hiccup?"

"That has nothing to do with it. Why do _you_ care so much?"

"Because I…I really…"

"_What_? You've been pushing me all day. Why will it be so terrible for you if I never remember?"

"Because I love you! All right? Gods damn it! This is not the way I wanted to have this conversation." She folded her arms. "Why are you acting like this?" she asked. "Do I repulse you all of a sudden?"

"Repulse, no; confuse, yes. Because what I do remember _very_ clearly is how you've never given me the time of day before, I wasn't good enough for you. But now I'm a great 'hero' you can't keep your hands off me. I guess I never realized how shallow you were." Hiccup regretted the words almost as soon as they were out of his mouth, but he could barely think straight: the confusion of the day plus his growing discomfort being around her and long buried childhood resentments were making him irritable and defensive.

She whirled on him, her blonde braid whipping around hard enough to bounce of her cheek. "Did you just call me _shallow_?" Her eyes narrowed at him dangerously, one fist clenched.

Hiccup swallowed, but found he couldn't stop. "Yeah, I did. When did you ever talk to me or even look at me like a human being? When did you ever see anything but a failure?"

"When did you ever act like anything but a failure?" she yelled at him, brandishing her arm as if she had her axe in it. "We were fighting for our lives and you spent all your time clowning around, like everything was a huge joke!"

"Clowning around?" he repeated with a harsh laugh. "But you're more than happy to hang around with Snotlout and Ruff and Tuff. _Everything's_ a joke to them. They could put on their own show!"

She thrust her finger at his chest. "_They _never almost got anyone killed! _They_ pulled their weight when the time came."

"And I didn't?"

"Gods, no! You were the worst liability this village has ever seen!" The words stung him worse than if she'd slapped him across the face.

"But now it's different? I-I changed so much?"

"Yes!"

"And you love me?"

"Yes!"

"So now I'm worthy of you?"

"Yes! No! I…Stop putting words in my mouth!" Her fist shot out and landed hard on his shoulder, causing him to fall back several steps. "Hiccup," she immediately gasped remorsefully. She tried to reach for him but he backed away further. "I've _never_ said you weren't worthy of me." Her face contorted in a strange mix of sadness and disgust.

"You didn't have to," he said, rubbing his shoulder, all the fight had drained out of him, leaving emptiness. "The Hiccup you're looking for, he's not here, and he may never be here again. I used to dream about impressing you enough to get you to notice me, but now I don't think I want to be the guy that you notice anymore. You can just go back to ignoring me. It'll make everything a lot easier." He started walking in the direction of the village.

"Hiccup!" she yelled shrilly after him. "You're not just going to walk back to the village by yourself!"

"Yep," he called over his shoulder.

After several more steps he heard her voice echo around him. "_You're not the only one who changed, you know!_"

"No," he muttered to himself. "I'm the only one who hasn't changed."

* * *

Astrid's Nadder landed just outside the Haddock home with a screech of annoyance that probably had something to do with how tight she was holding the reins. Toothless was lying patiently in the dooryard and raised his head at Astrid as she jumped to the ground. The door opened and Chief Stoick stepped out. Astrid nodded to him curtly, and then turned to address to the Night Fury.

"Your stubborn, idiotic, bullheaded rider is attempting to walk back from the southwest cove. Alone. If he doesn't succumb to the elements, I imagine he'd make it back here by this time next week at the rate he's going. So you may want to go get him." Toothless stood and looked at her closely as if trying to decipher her words. She pointed westward. "Hiccup. Go. Now." That got the message across, and the black dragon paused just a moment to clutch the bound riding gear in his mouth before slipping out of the village and racing into the forest like a giant winged mink.

Still ignoring the chief, Astrid remounted her dragon, but he caught her arm before she could take off. "What's going on?"

She wouldn't look at him. Astrid knew that if she looked into the face of Hiccup's father that the tears she'd been holding back with considerable will would finally break through. Keeping her eyes steadily on Baby's wing, she said, "I-I don't know. He's angry. Maybe it is just me, or maybe it's something else, but I can't help anymore. I'm sorry." Lightly kicking the Nadder, she flew back to the arena.

* * *

**A/N If anyone is wondering about my characterizations of Astrid, I'm going by the thoughts/feelings that I wrote in "All of Him". Not that anyone needs to read it, but it might help you understand where she's coming from (and it's a pretty good read, if I do say so myself ;) ).  
**


	6. Chapter 6

7/9/10

* * *

Hiccup trudged over the blanket of pine needles that covered the forest, each step seemingly taking more effort than the last. He wasn't familiar with this part of the island, but he was reasonably certain he was at least headed in the right direction. His shoulders were slumped and he found himself repeatedly sighing dejectedly.

"What is wrong with me? Why do I have to sabotage everything?" Suddenly he lifted his arms and spoke with a booming voice: "Hiccup Haddock, you've just defeated a great dragon and became a hero to your entire tribe! What are you going to do now?" Dropping his arms he plastered a large smile on his face and spoke in his normal voice: "Why, I'm going to alienate the hot Viking girlfriend I didn't know I had!"

With a groan, he kicked at a stray pine cone with his right foot; however the inertia shifted his weight unsteadily on his prosthetic leg which sent him crashing down onto his backside with a yelp. "Well this is just perfect," he said evenly, as he stared up into the darkening canopy of trees overhead. "The Gods must be trying to tell me something."

As if in response, he heard a distant crackling of branches being snapped and underbrush being upturned. He pushed himself up on one arm and peered into the dense foliage. The sun was sitting heavily in the Western sky, and the forest offered nothing but shadows for him to see. Was a bear out there? Worse, was the bear coming over _here_? The sound was becoming uncomfortably louder and he tried to push himself up quickly, but he still wasn't used to the new leg and kept getting in his own way. Suddenly the shadows leaped out at him causing him to yell out in surprise as an expanse of dark wings and vivid green eyes descended on him.

But instead of being consumed, a great nose was pressed against him sniffing and mumbling anxiously. "Toothless," he sighed in relief, using the dragon's head as leverage to pull himself up. "You scared the daylights out of me." Looking down he saw the bundled saddle and tailfin at his feet where the dragon had dropped it. "What are you even doing here? How did you know where I was?"

But the question hadn't even left his lips when he knew the answer. Scrunching up his face, he groaned and struck his thigh with a closed fist. "Astrid sent you, didn't she? Even after everything I said to her, she was still worried?" Toothless offered no comment on his current relationship woes and instead bent down and nudged the bundle with his nose, looking up at Hiccup expectantly.

"What?" He looked down at the brown and crimson bundle. He supposed riding dragonback would be considerably easier than walking. Sighing, he unwound the gear and separated them out. Toothless had already settled down on all fours to give him easier access. As Hiccup worked the various straps on the saddle, he talked out loud. "I really blew it. It's been such a crazy day. Not remembering, and then being near her…and smelling her! Do you have any idea how amazingly good girls smell? And then she kissed me! Who goes around just randomly kissing people?" He paused, brows furrowed. "Is it even supposed to go like this?" Shrugging, he finished off the last strap. "Ok. That's that." He slipped the riding harness over his head and cinched it tight. "Let's get going."

Toothless crooned and used his tail to nudge the prosthetic fin. "Well why do you need that? We're just going back to the village." But the dragon was insistent. Hiccup frowned. It really didn't make much sense to carry it back, when he'd probably need both hands to hold on anyway. "Fine, fine," he muttered and picked up the webbed fin, looking it over with a critical eye. Once again he was mildly impressed at his own ingenuity.

Buckling it to the end of the dragon's tail, he said, "Really it's all for the best anyway. I mean with a cracked head and half a leg, I'm not exactly the catch of the day. I'm like, oh you know, one of those smoked eels." Toothless growled low. "Right! Yeah, they're nasty. I should just change my name to Hiccup the Eel." Wryly he shook his head at his own stupid joke. He was drawing the pull-lines taut and attaching them to the saddle's foot control, when Toothless poked him on the back of the neck. "Hold on, hold on, I think I've got this right. I only looked at the designs once."

He stood back and brushed his hands together. "Happy now?" The dragon shook his head in satisfaction, and then dropped his left shoulder. Hiccup walked over, took a steadying breath, gripped the saddle and pulled himself up onto his stomach. Then he swung his right leg over the saddle until he was straddling the dragon's shoulders. Looking down he slipped the curved end of the prosthetic into the modified foot pedal. Finally he hooked the two safety lines to the saddle.

"All right. Just take us home the same way you got here, only maybe not as fast. I mean it looked like you were tearing through there at - WHOOOOOOOOOA!"

Hiccup's head snapped back as Toothless launched himself vertically into the air. He could feel the wind blowing his hair back, and felt like his stomach had been left on the ground. Holding onto the saddle for dear life he screamed uncontrollably. "Wait, wait, what are you doingOHMYGODS!"

Even though it seemed that Toothless was going to climb forever, he suddenly lost momentum and began hurtling back to the ground, the dragon's own cries joining his. "OHNOOHNOOHNO!" Hiccup had lost track of up or down, but he caught sight of the foot control out of the corner of his eye. The sketches in his book came back to him and he closed his eyes tightly trying to figure out what they meant. Realizing he'd never be able to decipher the doodling in time, he blindly started kicking the control into gear. The first one ceased the headlong dive to the ground and sent them into a diagonal spiral

_falling_

that made him shriek even louder as a cool silver panic grew inside of him, seeping into his limbs and cinching around his heart. A second click stopped the spin and allowed them to soar horizontally, but they were hanging upside down. Gritting his teeth he went forward once more, and after a half a revolution, slid it back.

They weren't descending anymore. The great beast's wings undulated strongly, moving them forward steadily towards the horizon. Hiccup couldn't see the ground below anymore. The island was behind them now. He looked back and saw

_teeth_

it receding in the darkening sky.

"Why would you do that, you stupid, stupid dragon!" Hiccup yelled furiously, nearly choking on the panic inside. "Are you trying to get us both killed!" Toothless twisted his head quickly causing his ears to flop around. Hiccup was panting heavily, his face red from fear and anger. "Did you think that would do it? Did you think that would bring him back? Huh? _He's not coming back!_" he shrieked.

Twisting in his seat, he suddenly had urgent need to check the tailfin,

_fireburningtattered_

afraid he hadn't attached it properly, but the buckles remained secured. They were safe for the moment.

He faced the front again and closed his eyes forcing the panic away, trying to tamp it down and regain control. Nothing was going to be solved by yelling hysterically at a dragon in flight. "I'm sorry," he said clenching his teeth. "I'm sorry. You just scared me."

At this he allowed himself to open his eyes and look around. The sky was nearly purple with starbursts of orange and gold from the setting sun. Below, the sea churned darkly with the occasional flashes of whitecaps. The wind on his face was moist and cool, and he could feel it drying the tears he hadn't even realized he'd shed.

He was riding a dragon, after all. This made him smile. He hadn't had the opportunity to enjoy the ride earlier in the day, but now it was actually pretty nice, serene even. He hunkered down against Toothless and let his mind drift. He didn't want to think about disappointed fathers or killing giant dragons or beautiful, but volatile Viking girls. He allowed himself to have just a moment of peace and tranquility.

Toothless honked loudly, rousing him from his reverie. He could feel the dragon's body trying to twist to the right, but their course didn't alter. "All right, I hope this does the trick," he said uncertainly as he flicked the control back once more. He cringed and strengthened his grip in case, but dragon simply banked right gracefully. "Ok, good. So that means…" He popped it back once more and they jerked to the left, Toothless braying in consternation. "Ok, ok, just checking," he said quickly as he readjusted correctly.

When they circled around to the opposite direction, Hiccup pushed forward so that they were again traveling straight, only this time they were headed back to the island. "You realize I have no idea how to land?" Hiccup asked him with a frown. The dragon's head simply bobbed eagerly.

Berk loomed ahead, the evening fires already lit. Hiccup crouched down as Toothless approached, heading dangerously close to the edge of the tree line. "Hey, uh, Toothless, don't you think we should avoid those?" he asked anxiously, but the dragon held firm. "Eh, where's down?" he muttered looking at his foot just as a large branch slapped him in the face. "Ah!" he cried throwing a hand up in front of him.

They barreled just past the trees as Hiccup slid the foot control all the way forward. Suddenly they were slanted downward at a sickening angle. "Whoa!" Hiccup called out as the ground came up faster than he could have imagined. Toothless shrieked and tensed his whole body before landing on the open pasture with a hard thump causing several sheep to jump in surprise. The restraining harness kept Hiccup from flying over the top of the dragon, and instead he crashed forward and planted his face on the back of Toothless' skull. "Ow," he moaned as he sat upright, feeling his battered, but thankfully unbroken nose throb.

Releasing the safety lines, he slid down to the ground, wobbling against Toothless for a moment as he reoriented himself to standing on firm land. "Ok, we'll mark that down as a mild success," he said to the dragon as the pair walked towards his house. Toothless cooed happily in response. "Better than the first one this afternoon."

As he entered the house he felt completely exhausted. And more famished than ever as the smell of the still-simmering stew crept into his nose. His father jumped up as he came in. "By Odin, Hiccup, where have you been? Toothless left hours ago."

"Oh, uh, we, uh, kind of went for a flight." He grabbed a bowl and dipped it into the soup pot. Without bothering with a spoon, he brought the bowl to his lips, blew at the steam tendrils, and then slurped it down.

"Really?" his father asked happily

"Yeah." Hiccup traced his finger around the bowl's edge. "It was kind of ok. I may do it again."

"Good, good," Stoick said. Then his face darkened a bit. "Would you like to talk about what happened with Astrid?"

"No. No, I would very much not like to talk about that right now. Or ever."

"All right," the older man replied quietly.

Hiccup tapped at the bowl anxiously. "Uh, she told me that you disowned me."

Stoick groaned and slapped his hand to his head. "Hiccup, that was before. It's nothing you need to concern yourself with now."

"It's just…I know I haven't been easy to have as a son…I just want you to know I'm going to try and be better for you."

Stoick stepped towards him and placed his hands on Hiccup's shoulders. "Don't. Whatever happens, I'm proud of you. I'm sorry I ever made you feel otherwise." Hiccup could only offer a grateful smile. "Now get yourself to bed; it's been a long day and you look about ready to fall over."

* * *

**A/N Just a few small things:**

**- I really have no idea if the animators had specific fin/pedal positions in mind, but I've had to more or less wing it in the descriptions. I can only hope it didn't come out too implausible.**

**- I borrowed a literary device from one of my favorite authors, purely out of respect and because I really liked the imagery. Again, I hope it wasn't confusing or weird.**

**- I wasn't sure about the discussion with Stoick. It felt kind of unfair to him since he'd already apologized, but old!Hiccup wouldn't know about that and I didn't think he'd be willing to let it go without mention. Anyway, let's hope Hiccup gets a good night's sleep and tomorrow will be a brighter day :)**


	7. Chapter 7

7/10/10

**Final chapter. Many many thanks go out to everyone who's read, reviewed, and favorited. **

* * *

Hiccup yawned as he stepped into the old blacksmith's shop, the forge already heating the small building to a sweltering level. "Sorry I'm late. Had to go down to the docks and get Toothless breakfast. You wouldn't believe how much he eats." Behind him, the dragon in question huffed in indignation and settled down to guard the door.

"Well, well, I was wonderin' if you were ever going to show up," Gobber called in greeting. "Afraid you'd forgotten all about me."

"Forget your charming personality? Never."

"Well I hope you haven't forgotten anything I taught you either. We've got orders stacking up. Them kids're planning to expand the arena into a full blown dragon stable and need nails, hinges, latches, you name it. Plus everyone's clamoring for a saddle like yours. I tol' 'em I'm not a leatherworker, just made yours special, and I didn't feel comfortable giving your plans to someone else without your say so."

"Oh, yeah, ok. I'll-I'll think about that," Hiccup said with a frown while putting on his apron. He grabbed a crate of ingots and started stoking the fire hotter to get them pliable enough to hammer into long sharp nails. The hours drifted by in the pleasant monotony of clanging metal on metal, even as the hot air made it difficult to breath. Here, he was perfectly himself, even forgetting about the steel extension on his leg for a time. The forge was timeless.

"Gobber," he spoke for the first time in hours as he pulled his twentieth finished nail out of the cooling pool and laid it in the waiting crate.

"Aye?" the old man answered, not looking up from his work.

"Aren't you going to try to get me to remember? You know, tell me how great I was?"

Gobber just shrugged. "Well I wouldn't want ye gettin' a big head. 'Sides, no business of mine what a man can or can'no remember. You're still my 'prentice either way."

Hiccup felt surprisingly relieved. "Thanks," he said with heartfelt sincerity. For the first time since he'd woken up yesterday, he didn't feel the pressure to be someone else.

At midday, Hiccup took a break, sitting on a high stool while taking mouthfuls of water out of a skin. He watched out the forge's large storefront window as the villagers of Berk and their new dragon companions went about their business as if nothing were out of the ordinary, as if just weeks ago, killing dragons hadn't been the most important goal on the island. He glanced at the door and smiled at his own newfound companion. He supposed whether he liked it or not, he was one of them.

Suddenly the window was filled with four boisterous teenagers, each carrying a large basket of fish. "Hey Hiccup!" Snotlout greeted cheerfully. Hiccup supposed he was never going to get used to the other boy's friendliness considering the years of abuse he'd taken at his hands, but made an effort to smile and wave in return. Next to him, Fishlegs and the twins poked their heads in to say hi. "Gobber," Snotlout addressed the blacksmith, "we were wondering if you had that order of nails ready yet?"

"Oh, hold your dragons!" the older man called irritably. "My 'prentice has been playing hooky for a week now, how much you think I have done?"

"Take it easy, pops, we were just headed by and thought we'd ask."

Hiccup smiled at Snotlout. "I'll have a crate done by the end of the day. I'll carry it up to you."

"All right, sounds good. And maybe you can help with the dragons for a bit while you're there?"

"Eh, I don't think so," Hiccup frowned. They seemed to still be under the impression he knew anything of use about dragons, besides _Kill On Sight_.

Suddenly an inhuman scream filled the air. As one, the four teens turned towards the sound. Hiccup jumped up and tried looking between the twins' heads. Just over the docks, something was flying towards them, wavering erratically, one wing trying desperately to compensate for the other's half-hearted attempt at flapping.

"What is it?" Ruff asked.

"I think it's a Deadly Nadder," Fishlegs answered as the beast flew further into the village before falling to the ground like a stone near the village center. "It's hurt!" As one, they dropped their baskets and raced towards the downed dragon.

Hiccup hauled himself up in the window to watch them, an anxious feeling growing inside him. "Well don' just stand there," Gobber called out behind him. "You're not going to be a lick of good until you go see what's happenin'."

Hiccup flashed him a smile and threw off his apron. He couldn't run, but pushed his new leg to its limits as he tried to catch up with them, Toothless eagerly on his heels.

By the time he reached the dragon, it was surrounded by concerned villagers. He tried hopping around to get a better look.

"Does it belong to anyone?" someone asked.

"Never seen it around here before."

"What do you think happened to it?"

"Attacked by something big, I suppose."

"What should we do?"

An eerie, heart wrenching cry escaped from the middle of the crowd. Hiccup pursed his lips; there was too much conversation going on, and not enough helping. He shouldered his way in with a force of determination greater than that of his body. "Let me though, get back, give her some air!" he yelled out and most of the gawkers withdrew several paces. He heard his name carried through the crowd in whispers, but paid it no mind.

The four teens still stood near the dragon, their normally raucous demeanors calmed by concern. On the ground a Nadder, blue-scaled with orange spikes, lay on her right side, her tattered and bloody left wing wavering visibly. Her left leg was bent at an unnatural angle, suggesting the deep gash in it had broken the bone. Hiccup suspected it was a bite mark. The dragon's whole body shuddered and she made a weak attempt to get up while her eyes rolled maddeningly in her head.

Hiccup dropped down to his knees and placed his hands on the panting dragon. In soothing tones, he said, "There, there, just take it easy. We've got you." Turning his head, he addressed the awaiting teens, firing off orders like a seasoned general. "Ruff, Tuff, I need you to go find me two good sized branches, about two feet long. And a sheet." They nodded and turned away, but he called them back. "And a bowl of water. Ok, go!"

The twins took off at a run that he suspected had more to do with the desire to beat each other than returning to the injured dragon in record time, but he would take what he could get. "'Legs," he said next, addressing the large, wide-eyed boy. "Do you know that cliff on the north side of Big Bear Point, with the really tall grass?"

"Uh, yeah, I-I think so."

"Great, go out there as quick as you can and bring a bunch of that grass. A big armload of it."

"Ok!" Fishlegs responded happily and jogged off considerably slower than the twins had, but with far more enthusiasm.

"'Lout, go grab some of those fish you guys were carrying."

"Sure thing!" Snotlout replied eagerly and ran off to comply.

He continued to soothe the injured and scared dragon, when a black serpentine face slid into view over his right shoulder. "Hey, buddy!" he cried happily. "I can use your help too! Can you try to keep her still? Maybe get her to calm down a bit?"

With a decisive chuff, Toothless trotted around to the other side of the Nadder and settled himself down, laying his head gently over her neck. Soon a deep, rumbling purr issued out of his chest. Hiccup could see the Nadder's struggles lessen and she took a deep breath, almost in time with Toothless' own. "Good job, buddy," Hiccup said with a smile.

"Here you go," Snotlout called out as he dropped down next to Hiccup, several fish in his hands.

"Try to get her to eat some," Hiccup instructed.

"Hey," Snotlout said in a surprisingly soft voice. "Try some of this yummy cod." But the Nadder wouldn't take it, turning her nose away and whimpering plaintively. Toothless picked his head up and slurped the fish down in a quick chomp. "Hey! That wasn't for you, greedy!" Snotlout cried indignantly.

"No, it's ok," Hiccup told him holding a hand out.

The black dragon began heaving and rasping, and as quickly as the fish had gone, half of it reappeared on the ground next to the Nadder's nose. This seemed to encourage her, and she weakly reached out and took in the morsel with several slow chews.

"Oh, that's just gross," Snotlout cried with a look of dismay.

"Ye-ah, try having to eat it," Hiccup said with his own look of disgust, feeling his stomach turn sharply.

The sounds of angry voices heralded the return of Ruff and Tuff, and Hiccup turned to see the girl holding a sheet just out of reach of her brother's grasp, elbowing him in the chest when he got too close. As they approached, he could hear Ruff say, "It's not my fault. Mom told you to change them weeks ago. Here," she said to Hiccup as they reached the injured dragon and tossed him the sheet as well as the two thick branches in her other hand. The sheet landed over his head as she said, "It's Tuff's so don't mind the stains!" Hiccup grimaced as he pulled the sheet off his head.

Enraged, Tuffnut, who was carrying a large bowl of water made to throw it over her. "Hey, no!" Hiccup yelled at him.

"Oh, sorry," Tuff said and handed the bowl to Hiccup before turning around and tripping his sister and landing on her back with his knee.

Turning away from the pair, he ripped a sizable strip of the linen, and dipped part of it in the water. Then he gently blotted at the gaping wound on the Nadder's leg. This caused her to shift violently. "Help hold her down, guys!" Hiccup called, and the twins immediately abandoned their scuffle, setting themselves along her back next to Toothless, while Snotlout stayed at her head, stroking her nose and talking quietly too her.

He resumed his attempt to clean the wound and then wrapped the strip of cloth around the leg to bandage it. Tearing off three more thin strips from the sheet, he then took the two sticks and placed them on either side of the Nadder's leg and, as gently as he could, attempted to straighten it. The dragon began to buck wildly and let out a bloodcurdling screech of pain that set Hiccup's teeth on edge, but he made himself continue. When the leg was at a reasonable angle, he began tying the three strips of cloth around the two sticks along their lengths to hold them and the leg in place. He dipped the remaining sheet in the water and cleaned the wound on her wing, though he suspected nothing could be done to fix it; it was possible this dragon would never fly again.

That done, he allowed himself to sit back and take a deep breath. From his right, he saw Fishlegs flying back on his Gronckle. The chubby dragon set down and the boy rushed over, arms full of thick wild grass, face flushed. "How's this?" he asked unsure of himself.

"Perfect," Hiccup told him with a smile and took some of the grass in his hands. He stood up and went to the dragon's head, letting her get a whiff. At first he thought she wasn't going to respond, but then her nostrils began to flare and she raised her head in interest. "Ok, everyone help her up." All the kids reached down and encouraged her to stand. Even Toothless slipped his head under her back to leverage her up. After several failed attempts, she finally regained her footing, settling herself on her unharmed right leg, while gingerly holding the splinted left out to her side. When it looked like she was holding her own, the teens gave whoops of celebration, and the villagers surrounding them cheered enthusiastically. Several hands clapped Hiccup on the shoulders.

"All right, just use that grass to lead her _slowly_ to the arena. Give her the biggest stall, probably the Nightmare's, if it's free. Put the rest of the grass in there with her to keep her calm." Nothing happened. He looked around, brows furrowed as four faces stared at him with open mouths. "What's wrong?" he asked them.

It was Snotlout who recovered first, walking over and mussing Hiccup's hair, a gesture that in earlier years would have followed with the smaller boy rolling around on the ground in pain, but now, Snotlout said, "Just glad to have you back, Boss! Ok, let's head out, team." As one the four teens urged the injured dragon towards the ring where she would be well-taken care of.

Hiccup watched them go, but wasn't really seeing them. He was seeing his recent past. It was all there. It was as if it had _always_ been there. Something nudged his shoulder and he turned. "Toothless," he breathed emotionally and wrapped his arms around the dragon's neck. "How could I ever forget you, buddy? I'm so sorry." Toothless crooned and butted his head several times.

So many memories were vying for his attention. He pressed his face against the dragon's throat to muffle his cries as horribly vivid images of the battle with the Green Death suddenly filled his head, fresh as if they were just happening. When they had finally passed, he stepped back, panting. Toothless grumbled at him in question. "I'm ok. I'm ok now. Really." He smiled happily for a moment as the more recently created memories overlapped and integrated themselves. "Oh no," he gasped as his face contorted to one of horror and panic. "Oh, I am such a jackass!"

A pair of Vikings walking nearby looked at him incredulously for a moment before shrugging and moving on.

"Toothless," he cried, "we need to go now!" Easily he leapt onto the dragon's back and they took to the air. It was not any great distance he needed to travel, but he'd never be able to make it on foot as quickly as he needed to get there. Before the dragon could even touch down, Hiccup had already slipped of the side and shuffling to the house.

He knocked on the door with the side of his fist and waited, running his hand through his hair nervously. When the door finally opened, he looked up into her face, grinning automatically as noticed her vivid blue eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but she just held up one finger to silence him, and then slammed the door in his face.

"Oh, come on!" he exclaimed in frustration, and pounded again. "Astrid! Please, you need to give me a chance to explain! Just two minutes. Come out here and hit me, bring your axe, anything, just listen to me!"

The door opened again. "You asked me to leave you alone," she said tightly. "So go away."

"No!" he shouted as she tried to shut the door again, sticking his metal foot in the threshold to block it.

"_No?_" she repeated.

"No." He placed a hand on the door and forced it open. "I need to tell you: _I was an idiot_, I didn't know what I was talking about. I couldn't have known the most important thing: that I wasn't the one that changed me, it was you, it was always you. The night before my final exam, I was going to run away, like a coward, but spending it with you gave me the strength to stand up to my father. And-and when they took Toothless, I would have stood there till Ragnarok, but you pushed me, you made me be better than myself. Just like you were pushing me yesterday."

"But that didn't help you," she said quietly, cheeks flushing slightly.

"No, not really, but I don't care. I want you there pushing me always. I am so sorry about what I said to you yesterday and I would really like it if you would not ignore me anymore." He grinned at her.

"Hiccup," she said with irritation. "You don't need to apologize. I don't blame you for resenting me. But I want you to know that how I feel now - it is genuine, it's-it's not about what you did, it's you. I'm just sorry I came on so strong."

"No. No-yes, yes, ok, it was a little strong, and surprising, but that-that's ok. I like strong. I like you strong."

She gave him a small smile. "I think we've jumped ahead a few steps."

He nodded, confused. "Um, ok?"

"I think we need to start fresh, like maybe if we get together tonight?"

"Together? Tonight?"

"Right. Like…a date."

"A date. Yes! Like a date. Just the two of us."

She nodded. "Because I need to get back to to work now."

"Ok."

"Ok."

"I'll just go then," he said, starting to walk backwards. "And see you tonight, because it's a date."

"Wait!" she called suddenly, and then stepped outside and punched him in the arm. "That was for being a jerk."

"Ow. Ok, not what I expected."

"You'll get the rest tonight." She dropped him a wink, and closed the door.

* * *

They flew back to the beach cove, and as Hiccup spread out a blanket, he asked, "Why did you want to come back here?"

Astrid pulled items out of a basket for their evening picnic, and replied, "It's really nice, and I didn't want to remember it for having a fight. I thought we could make this the place where," she shrugged, "something started." He nodded, with a smile.

They sat and ate bread and cheese and fruit, and drank mead from a skin. Behind them, their dragons dined well on piles of fish. After they'd eaten, they sat side by side and watched the sun sink into the horizon.

"Hiccup?"

"Yeah?"

"Now that you can remember, I was wondering if you wanted to talk about what happened, at the nest."

Hiccup closed his eyes, as those vivid memories flashed by once more. "No. Not yet."

"All right, I understand." She leaned closer and Hiccup felt his breath catch in his throat as he looked into her eyes. "Hiccup," she said again softly.

"Hmm?"

"You're going to kiss me."

"I-I am?"

"Yes."

"Ok. I can do that."

"Ok."

"I, uh…right now?"

"_Hiccup_."

He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers, tasting the sweet mead she'd drank before, causing him to suckle each one gently. When they parted, he asked, "Well?"

She smiled. "I'm really glad you're back."

"Me too."

The end

* * *

**A/N Well that's it. Longest chapter of the whole fic, twice as long as the first one! Hehe. From the time I decided to continue, I knew exactly how I wanted Hiccup to get his memory back. I knew that _something_ had to happen and he would step up, firing off instructions, without even realizing what was going on; the whole thing was just so vivid to me, right down to Snotlout cluing him in. It was the _something _I had a huge problem figuring out, lol. Thankfully it finally came to me a couple of chapters back. :D**

**Thank you all so much for hanging in there with me!**


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